There once lived a prince...

Tue Oct 09 2018

There once lived a prince. He was born in fair riches, surrounded by servants and all the luxuries he could ask for.

The prince, growing up felt disconnected to the land he was born in, the people he walked with. For he was, always in search of meaning behind it all, and unravelling life's greatest mysteries, he would spend his days with books and nights deep lost in his thoughts. He couldn't find anyone as curious, with as many questions as he had. Soon, the prince began to let go of those questions.

The prince grew up, and was fairly content with his life, until life asked him to find the answer to all the questions buried deep within. Try as he may, the prince couldn't answer those questions from where he stood and where he grew up. The prince decided to turn himself into an hermit, travelling far and wide, in search of that which was missing...

The first land the prince travelled to, he began to see himself as a person in his own right. The culture much more familiar to the one he grew up within the confines of his home.

Of course, now an hermit in a new land, the prince for the first time found himself in a situation he couldn't handle. Try as he may, he couldn't have turned things around for himself. Not living anymore in the shadow of the King and Queen that raised him, he began facing the hardships that he thought were beneath him and never took them on when he was in his own kingdom. Lucky for the prince, that there were relatives of the Queen in the distant land, whom though he had never met before, would help him through the perils he found the moment he had arrived in the new land.

Soon, the prince, with their help, began to find a place for himself and started a new life, dependent on few. The prince started living a jolly life and had turned himself into a hedonist. As everything else in life, anything in excess is always bad, the prince found that the hedonist life had consequences far into the future that he always took for granted. The prince learnt to change his ways, and started leading a disciplined life. He began, to find moments of happiness within that life, once he learnt to share it, by discovering loved ones in the distant land.

The prince was content with the life he had made, but couldn't still find what he was looking for. Finding a nostalgic connection to the land he was from, the novelty of the new land wearing off; decided to return back to the land he came from...

... as fate had other plans for him, the prince soon discovered a path to a new further away land, promising a life far more exciting. The prince jumped on the opportunity and took the path.

The path turned out to be far more twisted than the prince had imagined and the prince finally found a way to live in the far away land without trading any of his principles.

The far away land was different in customs and faces, than the prince was used to. In an unfamiliar land, this time more or less on his own, the prince had to figure things out faster than he had ever done. The prince could soon find an independent life which he had sought after. Finding peace in solitude, he had finally learned to love the person he always was.

As time passed by, and craving for new experiences other than just in solitude, he started making new friends and allies and living the life of adventure and seeking their stories. He had started finding happiness in the journey, and not treat it as a destination. He began trusting even strangers and seeing the good in people even before they could find it themselves. He was finally becoming an optimist...

... a sense of optimism, can use a healthy dose of pessimism. The prince was blindsided by all the happiness he had wrought that when summer turned to winter, the excuse for the prince to be in the new land came to a halt. To remain in the land, the prince tried half-heartedly, going on a conquest...

... while returning from the conquest, the prince felt dejected and was lost in his thoughts. He met an old sage on his way back to the home he had made in the far away land. The old sage, heard the prince's tale and had a anecdotal narrative to offer...

The sage talked about how he had made the riches in the land he grew up in, and how he had lost it all. The prince couldn't sense even a hint of remorse or sorrow in the sage's voice and was curious as to why the sage wasn't sad with the cards life had dealt him. The sage had this to offer - "O prince, it isn't about the riches you make and lose, it's not about how high you soar... For I had decided to make my riches and find my happiness in the place I was born, and I will make it once more. Now it's up to you to decide where you could make your riches and how".

The words of the sage had made a mark on the prince, for he was finally content to return back to the land where he belonged. There was one puzzle left unsolved though, the prince still hadn't found the answer to the question of how?

All he knew was that he didn't want to turn into a fat peasant - a mere passive subject in another's kingdom, living a merry life, just content while making none a difference in life of any living soul. The life of a hedonist as pleasant it may seem - is still far from filling the depth of his soul with bliss.

Once back to his land, the prince worked on gathering his wits about what was the impact he wanted to make. Finding all that which worked and discarding what didn't. In his search, he stumbled down and he soared high, he found deeper meanings in things which he had never considered he would be capable of, and found certain other things far from meaningful. He finally was becoming disillusioned with what was on offer, and had found the courage in him to take charge of himself and his own life.

What would become of the prince, will he create his kingdom or once again live life of a hermit is one which time would tell...

This is in part a fable and in part a story inspired by my own. I am far from finding the true purpose of life, yet, I am giving myself all the room I can to find it. There will once again come a story of my journey and the experiments through it.